Wheeled platforms and transport carts for various materials have been known since antiquity. Specifically for the field of this invention, carrying heavy, awkward, and fragile slab countertops by hand from a delivery truck, over terrain and obstacles, up steps into a kitchen, and pivoting the slab from a vertical or near vertical position to a horizontal position at a precise and correct height of the receiving cabinet work has long been a burden and a challenge in the slab countertop industry. It would also be useful if such a device were specially sized to navigate easily from a delivery truck to an install site, especially around corners and in residential spaces which are often more narrowly confined or irregularly shaped than industrial or commercial spaces.
Various devices are currently available which attempt to address these challenges, although many meet only one or two aspects of the totality of the requirements. Thus, carts exist for tilting sheetrock slabs to near vertical for easing transport through doorways, hallways and other narrows passages, and some are adapted to position sections of wallboards for installation, but the task of installing a countertop includes pivoting the sheet material to horizontal. It would be more advantageous that the device pivot the slab while allowing the installer a clear view of the location to receive it, and an opportunity to correct or fine-tune the motion of the slab to effect an exacting and professional-looking installation.
In contrast, some existing devices hold the slab at a disadvantageous angle which blocks this view until the upper edge of the pivoted slab comes to near horizontal. Accordingly, this method only reveals the installation location at or near the end of the pivot motion.
Mention is now made of a device being offered for sale by Easy Slab Transportation Devices LLC of Charlotte, N.C. (hereafter EST Devices or EST.) The EST device has no power assist. In the EST video available on their company website, two horizontal locking pins are seen that look like they snap in to a hole once the tilting frame reaches horizontal. However, they are so far apart that they have to be unlocked by two separate actuations or by two people. If both locking pins are spring-loaded, then two people would certainly be required, because each would be out of reach of a user operating the other. Also, a user of the EST device must reach far underneath the perimeter of a countertop loaded on the tilting frame, or wait until the countertop is free of the cart in order to access the locked-in pins.
A configuration allowing all locking pins to be disengaged by a single act of a single operator would advantageously save labor cost, time, and task complexity. The EST device seems to lack these components and lacks this desired improved utility.
Typical slabs can be made of granite or other material having a granular structure. Although the granular structure can have a pleasing and desirable appearance, thin membranes of such granular materials do not withstand tensile or bending stresses. Breakages during transport are common and costly. It would therefore be advantageous to contrive effective means to secure and constrain a slab or sheet material in a manner which reduces or eliminates bending or warping of the material and reduces shocks experienced in transit when a utility cart carrying a fragile slab is moved over bump-inducing objects in the path of the cart, which can include both outdoor obstacles like pavement layer transitions, garden hoses crossing the path of the cart, steps and sidewalk curbs, and indoor obstacles such as door thresholds, stair treads, transitions from flooring to carpeting, wrinkles in carpet, loose rugs, and children's toys. A desirable benefit of a slab transporting utility cart would be to dampen transit shocks while traversing these obstacles and also to minimize rolling friction by any effective means.
Another need in this industry is to reduce sliding friction encountered when displacing a slab to be installed from the cart to the location to be installed. If the sliding force can be sufficiently reduced, it becomes possible for the installation to be performed by fewer workers or even just one worker. Labor costs savings can translate to lower prices for the end consumer and a competitive economic advantage for businesses who acquire and use such a utility cart over their competitors lacking these benefits and advantages.